“You building it,” I said under my breath, more to settle my own thoughts than anything else, “or you just moving things around until it feels safer?”
The question didn’t need an answer. I already knew what was sitting under it. It wasn’t about shelves or layout or whether the front display caught the light the right way. It was about the part of this I hadn’t brought in yet. Not because I didn’t know what it was—it was because I did.
I could already hear how that would go. The way she’d walk in without making a production out of it, take in the whole room in one pass, and then tilt her head just slightly before saying something that sounded simple and ended up shifting everything into place.
I exhaled, slower this time, and stepped away from the chairs, putting space between me and something I wasn’t ready to deal with yet. I knew what was missing. I just wasn’t ready to make room for it. The door opened again.
“You in here working or just making it sound good?”
I didn’t look up right away. “You’re early,” I said.
Marcus walked in, already scanning the room.
“Gerald caught me outside,” he said. Marcus moved toward the front, turning slow as he took everything in. “Told me you been in here since early this morning.”
I stood, brushing my hands against my jeans.
“It feels different,” he said. “Like you actually committed now.”
“That’s the goal.”
He nodded, folding his arms.
“Lancaster got you moving like this?” he asked.
I exhaled lightly. “Partly.”
“You made out all right,” he said. “Just off those comics?”
“I did all right.”
Marcus watched me, then angled his head a little. “That day wasn’t really about comics, though,” he said. I didn’t respond right away. He didn’t press. “Nova got quiet,” he added after a second.
I looked past him toward the window, and said, “She was fine.”
Marcus let out a soft breath, something between a laugh and a sigh. “You don’t know her like that if you think quiet means fine.”
My jaw tightened.
“Kendra ain’t do nothing wrong,” he added.
“I didn’t say she did.”
“I know,” he said. “I’m saying you didn’t mean to do anything wrong either.”
That landed exactly where it needed to.
I pulled out my keys, turning them once in my hand.
“It just… wasn’t the right day for all that to mix,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, as he nodded slowly. “That’s all it was.”
We stood there a second. Then he shifted, glancing around again.
“You seeing her tonight?” he asked.
“Kendra? Yeah.”
